Mitai village dinner
Mom and Aunty with their Polynesian mud mask on
Mom at the Museum hotel
After Auckland we all headed out to Turanga which is a 4 hour bus ride. Mom was looking forward to it so I took her pillow as I knew I would be sleeping the whole way. We arrived in Turanga and the weather was lovely, always a bonus. We decided to walk to our hotel as the guy told us it wasn't far. Well maybe not, but I had about 40 pounds on my back never mind the other luggage. We finally arrived, dropped our stuff and hit the town. Turanga is a beautiful place to visit. We spent most of our time walking around aimlessly, window shopping, eating, and checking out some movies. It was a relaxing place to visit for us.
Our next stop was smelly ol' Roturua. I had been there already with Karl but because it's such an active town, being built in the middle of a volcanic crater, I thought they would both enjoy seeing it. Roturua was great. We went to a Maroi dinner at the Mitai village. I had already gone with Karl but found it just as interesting the second time. It sure helps that they have a few cute boys that work for that family, one of whom mom decided to take about 10 photos of throughout our 15 minute walk after dinner. Quite embarrassing to say the least. We shared some good laughs, especially when my mother decided to answer for another family during the head count on the bus, accidentally of course. I hope they still aren't waiting at the village for their ride home. We also visited the Polynesian spa, one of the top 10 spas in the world. We entered the different mineral pools, it was quite beautiful. Smelly but gorgeous views.
I can't say that any of us were terribly sad to leave the notorious Roturua scent and head to Wellington, where we had the most lovely boutique hotel booked. We flew from Roturua, as the time to take the bus was much to long. There was absolutely NO security at the Roturua airport, which was quite strange. We arrived at our hotel early in the afternoon and I have to say the hotel was amazing. We had a apartment hotel, with a full kitchen. The hotel used to be across the street and they moved it to make room for Te Papa, the Wellington museum. The weather in Wellington was terrible, but it didn't stop us. We were out both days, all day. Aunty and I got a pedicure at the salon on the corner, mom had a massage. We visited Te Papa museum, which was amazing. We had an fabulous dinner at Monsoon Poon, a Thai infused restaurant with just an amazing vibe. The next day we were out from 9:30 am - 7 pm. We joined a guided city walk for 2 hours, brushed up on some history in Wellington. Ended up at a amazing old church from the early 1900's. It is only used now for weddings etc. meaning they have no mass and it's just lovely. We visited the Parliament building, as Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. We walked for a few hours through their lovely Botanic Gardens, and eventually headed back for dinner and we slept like babies. Wellington was amazing and I'm sure we could've had another day there. But time is tight and we had to move on. Our next stop is Dunedin, a city that is located on the southern tip of the south Island. We are flying there, thankfully, as again the distance by bus was terribly long.
I'll write soon on that city!
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